Title: antigen-presenting cell
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - antigen-presenting cell
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.12888
Status: current

Definition
Cell, such as a dendritic cell or macrophage, that is responsible for making antigens accessible to lymphocytes and other immune effector and regulatory cells, making possible specific recognition by receptors on the cell surface.

Note
In a more restricted way, used to describe major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II-positive cells (accessory cells) that internalize and degrade an antigen (generally by phagocytosis), before a fragment of the antigen molecule is presented on the APC cell surface in association with an MHC molecule. This complex is recognized by either B cells via surface-bound immunoglobulin (Ig) molecules, or by T cells via the T-cell receptor (TCR) for the antigen. Induction of a specific immune response then proceeds.

Related Terms
- B cells: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12937
- T cells: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13724
- T-cell receptor (TCR): https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13714
- accessory cells: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12830
- dendritic cell: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13087
- lymphocytes: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13399
- macrophage: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13424
- major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13432
- phagocytosis: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13562

Source
- PAC, 2012, 84, 1113. 'IUPAC glossary of terms used in immunotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2012)' on page 1125 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-11-06-03)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12888/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12888/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12888/xml

Citation: Citation: 'antigen-presenting cell' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.12888
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Accessed: 2026-06-28T22:06:55+00:00